Half Red
by GeorgiaScarlett
Summary: What defines a fairy tale prince? Saving a princess? A heroic introduction? Unique character? Henry has all them so why isn't he considered one? A propper hero has their flaws but an obsession with blood and dark magic ain't one!
1. Chapter 1

_The day they first met wasn't romantic. In fact, it wasn't even pleasant. But it was one of many days they would ever forget._

Olivia gasped as she saw hordes of risen surrounding the Shepherd's. She was in the middle of the group as she wasn't a fighter, so like now, when all ends of the group step back to space themselves from the enemy, she was crushed between them.

"Hey move back a bit," Vaike ordered, forcing her further into Panne on the other side.

"Step back or we'll lose our formation," the Taguel stated back to her.

"I'm sorry!"

She aimed the apology at either of the two crushing her, but both were unsatisfied until eventually Vaike pushed her away and she fell to the floor in front.

"Gods"

He spat venomously and crashed into Panne, igniting an argument of curses which earned the attention of Chrom and the tactician. Chrom ran over to stop the two stressed warriors before the first blow was thrown and rearranged their positions, not noticing the pink haired girl who was in a sitting position on the ground. She leaned back to stand up and wacked her head against something behind her. A mix of adrenaline and paralyzing fear consumed her and she sat motionless. She didn't need to see what was there; she knew what was happening behind her. She felt a rush of air as the 'thing' behind her raised its arm. She put her hands to her ears, squeezed her eyelids shut and let out a small cry for help out of instinct even though it was too late.

Her world was dark around her and time slowed. She felt cold air on her neck make way for a colder weapon but before it struck, she was hit by something large and unfamiliar warmth returned to her petrified body. Something gashed her from her collar bone to the shoulder and the warm liquid oozed painlessly out of the slit. She was alive. She dared to open her eyes slightly to see what happened, who was holding her. The first thing she saw was a cow in the sky, then looked further to see the risen who attacked her crumpled and dead on the floor. Then she drew her attention to silver locks of hair and a childish smiling face. It took her a while to regain her senses until she realised she didn't know this man. She opened her mouth slightly to squeal but before she could let out a noise, she was suddenly dropped and hit the floor with a thud.

"Ow wow, look at all that blood!"

The man had a large wound reaching up his arm and to his neck. Olivia was flabbergasted at his eccentric reaction to the sight of his own blood. She wondered if she should get Lissa to help him or let him be and run away. They may have made brief eye-contact, they probably did not, but before she could make her mind up, his attention was drawn back to her and to the smaller injury she had.

"You're bleeding a lot, too! You're practically red!"

Timidly, Olivia looked down at herself. Blood had run from her shoulder down her arm and dripped off her fingers, and it ran through her clothes and down to her waist down the front but she still didn't feel it. The girl started to panic at how severe it looked and desperately searched the battlefield for her comrades.

"Olivia!"

Her head darted to the direction of the voice and saw Vaike run towards her, spewing apologies.

"Geeze, I'm so sorry about pushing you, this was all my fault and -wah!"

His drabble stopped when he came close enough to see the red half of her body. One was too stunned to say anything, and the other was too socially awkward, so they stood there in silence for a moment.

"Oh shit I'm gonna get killed for this! Come with me now and see Lissa," Vaike demanded, grabbing her wrist and running back where he came from.

"Uh, wait! I um," Olivia protested weekly and desperately tried to look back over her shoulder for the man who saved her and hurt his arm doing it.

The battle was already over when they got back, and Lissa instantly got to work on healing her wound. Olivia searched the area again for the odd person she met but to no avail so she awkwardly asked the cleric.

"Um have you seen a man with white hair around here?"

"Oh, you mean the creepy one with the crows and dark magic? Henry?"

"Probably that one... Is he on our side?"

"Hmm I'm not so sure. Didn't you hear his introduction? He told us about the traps and Chrom trusts him for now but I think he's trouble."

"Oh... I must have missed it... I'll stay out of his way then."

The dancer was confused. On One side, she was happy that Henry was on their side but on the other, he was a weird, obsessive man; it wasn't a fairy tale prince who swept her off her feet, it was 'him'. She sighed and dragged herself inside her tent. Olivia flopped face first onto her pillow, too tired and caught up in her thoughts to do anything else.

 _'He probably wouldn't even recognise me. I don't even know why he did it...'_

She let her thoughts drift until she fell asleep; the girl didn't have the energy to repel them.


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia woke up to the light of dawn that cast heavy shadows in her tent. The camp now had a strategic tent layout structured around when individuals want to wake up; one of the perks of having a renowned tactician on their team. Light sensitive sleepers who wanted to wake up when the sun first comes up sleep in the tent with the most direct sunlight, and are waken at first light. Then the other tents are lined up so the shadows from the other tents block the light so they can sleep longer, until the whole camp is awake. As she likes to practice in the early morning, Olivia slept in the second tent in one of the rows.

Automatically, Olivia tried to get up for her usual routine, accidently shifting her weight on her bad arm. She gritted her teeth in response, remembering its presence.

And the man who saved her life.

She cursed herself at the thought; she promised herself the day before to forget about him. With a frustrated sigh, the dancer jumped to her feet, grabbing a fresh set of clothes. She stared down at them thoughtfully and glanced at her portable mirror, slowly turning the rest of her body to it. Her hair was a mess, one of her plats had come undone and so had her ponytail. She had bandages wrapped around her left shoulder and around her neck. But she wasn't looking at either. Dry blood adorned almost half of her body; it was smeared on her cheek and leg, and had absorbed in her clothes, making them stiff. One of her top straps was severed, dyed and flecked. Olivia traced the burning cut under her bandage, once again breaking the promise she made to herself. She re-tracked the events in her head; being pushed out or formation, realising there was a risen directly behind her, being swept away in warm arms, feeling sharp metal sink in her skin, seeing the crow and fallen risen, looking for the first time on her saviour. A ghost of a smile was stiff on her face.

"Look at all that blood," she quoted, eyebrows wrinkling.

After Showering and changing her bandages, Olivia headed from the camp towards the nearest village to buy talk to locals and look for inspiration. She skipped down the dirt road, humming cheerfully. She had a basket with her to bring veg for the night as she was on mess duty tonight. Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks, horrified at the sight. In front of her, standing only a few feet away was a familiar white-haired dark mage crouching and muttering what could only be assumed as incarnations over a puppy! Without thinking, she dropped her things and towards them screaming.

"DON'T TOUTCH THAT DOG!" Henry turned to her wearing a confused face.

"Huh? What the," Henry protested as the girl violently snatched the puppy from his arms. "Hey!"

Olivia sharply regained her senses and wondered how to talk to him. With little time to think about it, she decided he wouldn't remember her and tried to carry on as if the day before hadn't happened.

"I know you! You're that creepy kid who likes blood and magic and...Blood magic! You stay away from that poor little doggy!" Henry's face held the same smile as always, unmoving as he argued.

"But this dog is hurt. See, his leg has this—" The man reached out to touch the dog's paw and Olivia jerked away.

"N-no! Stop! I'll take care of him and nurse him back to health!" She insisted

"Huh?" He asked again, taking a small moment to think before continuing. "Oh, okay, sure! We can take care of him together!" The dancer was taken aback at his suggestion.

"T-together? Waaait a second. Aren't you going to sacrifice him to your dark god or something?" Olivia's muscles loosened as she turned back to him. Henry stood up to face her and defend his now hurt pride.

"You're a crazy lady," he said coldly, striding towards her with his permanent smile on his face. Olivia felt sweat run down the side of her face and she stepped back. She half expected to be attacked and turned to hide the dog from him, but he continued cheerfully, waving his arms around like a child.

"Why would I do that? I love doggies! I want to save his life! Right, boy?" He asked, walking around the dancer to fuss the dog. "Who's a good boy? Aren't you glad the crazy lady wants to help us? Yes you are!"

"Hey! How am I crazy? You're the one who's obsessed with blood!" Olivia countered, remembering when her brief image of him being a gallant knight shattered.

"Hey, that's a medical condition! Show some respect!" His defence felt heavier to her than a hammer. Fate sure loved to tease her.

"Oh, never mind," Olivia half whispered, emotionally deflated. She kicked the basket to him and faced towards the village. "Right now, we have a dog that needs looking after. Will you run and get me some bandages?"

"You got it, crazy lady!" He replied. He sprinted away before she had a chance to retort and Olivia swore she saw his grin was even wider when he said it.

Ten minutes later, Olivia saw the recognisable figure of Henry came jogging, no, prancing back. Her eyebrow twitched in frustration as she watched his ridiculous movements from below a tree.

"Here are the bandages, Ma'am!"

"Ah, thanks," Olivia replied hollowly. She inspected the dog's cut to make sure there was no glass in it and dabbed it with ointment. Henry wordlessly took the bandages out of the bag and started wrapping the paw whilst Olivia held it up. The whole operation was done in respectable silence which started to mend her opinion of the dark mage. She glanced over at Henry, wondering if he still was smiling and to try to tell what about him put her so at ease now. A pang of disappointment surged through her heart when she saw his facial features hadn't moved. He seemed so damaged but he was so gentle. It didn't make sense.

"How's the wound?" Henry asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh. I think it should be fine, I don't think there was any glass in it and I tri-"

"No, not the dog. How's your wound?" The question caught Olivia off guard and flustered her.

"Oh, this?" She clumsily stroked her bandages. "It's OK… Not as bad as it would have been…" She let her hand gently fall back down to her lap and held it with her other hand. She turned her face away from the obscenely optimistic man in front of her to the mountains where yesterday's battle took place, her face locked in an unreadable expression. There was no way Henry remembered her, she was just a fluke; nobody would have noticed if she was gone. She wasn't going to waste her effort hoping for the impossible.

"It's true; you would have had your head cut clean off! It was like watching an execution; he had an axe and everything. Heck, you almost looked like you accepted it." Olivia snapped her head back to see his laughing face in shock. Her chest felt tight. He remembered it…

"You still remember?" She asked faintly.

"How could I forget? It's hard to forget someone when it looks like they're half normal, half blood!"

"Ha…Yes…Blood…" Olivia almost cried. She promised she wouldn't hope. Hell, she promised she wouldn't think about him and avoid him. Of course he only remembers her because she was covered in blood. "How's your arm?" She asked, forcing back thoughts and tears.

"Great! That healer guy fixed it up good, too good. Now I can't prod it," Henry pouted. He revealed his bandaged arm and tried to pick at the bandage. Olivia laughed, tears falling from her eyes.

' _Oh heavens, no,' She_ screamed internally and plastered a fake grin on her face to hide her true emotion.

"You're so silly, don't pick at it," she ordered and grabbed her basket, still holding her smile, still crying. Is this what Henry's always doing? Is this what he's feeling? Crippling lack of self-worth and hatred? "Well I've got to go; I've got mess duty today! Try to find the dog's home OK?" Henry tilted his head, confused.

"…OK. See you later, then." He called back at the pink-haired woman sprinting towards the village.

"She really is a crazy lady," Henry confirmed when she had gone out of sight.


End file.
